IN THE NEWS: Some medical longevity specialists recently published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine saying that increasing obesity in America will reverse the long-run increase in life expectancy within the next 50 years. In other words, people are going to live shorter lives, on average, because they’re too fat. Of course, there are disagreements in the field. Most other longevity experts think that average life expectancy will continue to increase because of advances in medicine. However, they admit that obesity is becoming a big problem and will make longevity lower than it otherwise could have been, even if it doesn’t make it lower overall.

I don’t like to think of myself as a liberal snob, but you really have to wonder just how smart Americans are. America has definitely been getting fatter over the past 25 or 30 years, despite all the good information that has been readily available to the public throughout this time about the health effects of obesity. American’s definitely don’t think ahead too far. Steak, cake, shakes, fetticuine alfredo, Krispy Kreme, Ben & Jerrys . . . . . scarf it down today, forget about tomorrow. What a country.

But in many ways, despite its many stupidities, America is still a great country. And it’s interesting that its Muslim sons and daughters are increasingly restless for a progressive form of Islam that embraces America’s best values (e.g. education, tolerance, open-mindedness, and individual rights). There was an interesting article in the NY Times today about a woman who leads Islamic prayer services in New York City, despite all of the taboo in classic Islam about women. According to Islamic tradition, women must pray apart from men in segregated corners of the mosque, and certainly cannot lead men. But Islamic tradition isn’t entirely edifying to the average American-born Muslim these days. One survey indicates that only about 10% of native-born Muslims attend mosque weekly. According to the Times article, the mosques and Islamic centers are often ruled by immigrants and thus don’t meet the needs of American Muslims. So, the native types are experimenting with modernism, such as allowing women to pray together with men and even allowing women to lead the prayers at times.

This isn’t the first place where I read that women are the ticking time bomb within fundamentalist Islam. The idea of women’s equality is out of the bottle throughout the world, and even the gnarliest of imams and ayatollahs can’t put it back. The anti-western strain of Islam appears to be getting stronger out there in the “Moslem Crescent”, which stretches from the tip of Africa to Southeast Asia. But in their hearts, Muslim women increasingly know it’s wrong. I think there is hope for the emergence of a modernist Islamic movement, even out in places like Nigeria and Yemen and Bangladesh. I even hold out for a peaceful reconciliation between third world Islam and the West. But only if the West could give them something worth reconciling with – something more than obesity, greed, aggressive marketing, materialism, lawyer-talk, sexual obsession / immaturity, and all of the other missteps of American culture. (And having Wolfowitz at the World Bank does NOT appear to be a good way of giving them “something more”).

Finally, as to the Terri Schiavo thing — to be honest, that’s a real toughie. Years ago I totally agreed with the decisions to remove forced breathing apparatus from brain-dead patients. But now it’s been kicked up a notch, to removing food and water. That’s a step closer to mercy killing. It’s not a step to be taken lightly, especially if the person in question didn’t leave any “living will” instructions.

On the other side of the coin, Ms. Schiavo has been unconscious for 15 years – I’m fairly comfortable with the notion that she ain’t coming back. Still, the chances aren’t totally zero, and crazy things have happened before. In a kinder and gentler world where resources and mercy were plentiful, I’d say that we should never pull the plug. But in a nasty world of limited resources where population needs and expectations are getting ahead of wisdom and technology, perhaps we have to do some medical rationing. But in doing so, let’s not add too much to the “many missteps of American Culture” cited above. Let’s not let 15 years become 15 weeks. It could be you or me on the other end of that feeding tube next time (and I hope and pray that won’t be the case!).